Date Culture 

IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 




BY 



George Wharton James 
Paul B. Popenoe 
Ralph D. Cornell 



50 CENTS 



Date Culture 



IN 

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 

BY 

GEORGE WHARTON JAMES 
Editor OUT WEST, author of "The Wonders of the Colorado Desert," 

"In and Around the Grand Canyon," "In and Out of 
the Old Missions of California," etc. 

PAUL B. POPENOE 

o) the West India Gardens, Altadena. 

RALPH D. CORNELL 

oj Pomona College. 



OUT WEST 

•IS New High Street 

Los Angeles, ( !al. 



' V 




El Kosba. an early ripening variety from Tunis, fruiting in the f'oarhella Valley. California. 



/)ate Growing on the Colorado 



Desert. 

By George Wharton James 



Author of "In and Around the Grand 
Canyon," "The Wonders of the 
Colorado Desert," etc. 



IT IS to be doubted whether any 
other country in the world posses- 
ses such marvelous adaptability 
for the growing of such a variety 
of plants, trees, shrubs, and flowers as 
does California. There are several 
reasons for this. Its soil is as rich and 
as varied as the needs of plant life, 
its topograph}^ ranges from nearly 400 
feet below sea level to over 14,000 feet 
above, its climate runs the gamut from 
Saharan Desert to Alpine Snows, and 
it possesses inland valley, mountain 
height, foot-hill slope, ocean shore, and 
island surfaces upon which floral and 
arboreal growths are as wonderfully 
varied as anywhere in the world. The 
result is that one need not be surprised 
at anything he hears as to the possibili- 
ties of California's horticulture. 

For centuries the Fan Palm, known 
to scientists as the Neo-washiugtoiua 
Filifera, has been growing profusely 
in the canyons and foothills of the moun- 
tains that surround the Colorado Desert 
in Southern California. Great clusters 
of fruits are annually ripened upon these 
palms upon which the Indians have a 
feast. These facts suggested to the 
United States Government plant-ex- 
perts and experimentalists that here, 
under the high culture of American 
methods of farming, the date palm of 
the Persian Gulf region might be brought 
to the highest possible state of perfec- 
tion. Accordingly, about seven years 
ago experimental date farms were es- 
tablished at Mecca on the Colorado 
Desert, and at Tempe in Arizona. In 
spite of unusual and adverse conditions 
the results have been eminently satis- 
factory. 

But even more pleasing than the results 
obtained at the Government's experi- 
mental farms, are those achieved by an 
experimentalist who was neither farmer 
nor scientist. Six years ago last Oc- 
tober (1911) James P. Read "took 



up" 1(30 acres of desert land, four and 
a half miles northwest of Mecca in the 
artesian belt of the Coachella Valley. It 
took a year to get his well bored and the 
land cleared and ready for planting. 
Hence, nothing upon his place is more 
than five years old. He visited the 
experimental date farm and became so 
interested that he wrote to Dr. Walter 
Swingle, the head of the experimental 
department of plant life at Washington, 
D. C, and asked if he would send him 
a variety of date shoots, all of which 
he would plant, carefully tend and ex- 
periment with. Accordingly seeds of 
26 different varieties of edible dates were 
sent to him, all of which were planted with 
unusual care. Nearly all of them came 
up and thrived abundantly, but now, 
after five years of experience, Mr. Read 
is devoting the major part of his atten- 
tion to seedlings of but three varieties: 
namely: — the Deglet Noor, the Menak- 
her and Tafilet. 

At the outset it must be understood 
that the date palm is diecious, some 
trees being male and some female, 
and it is essential that the growing 
fruit be fertilized with the pollen from 
the male trees. Experience has demon- 
strated that this can better be done arti- 
ficially than by nature, which permits 
the digging out of the major part of 
the unnecessary male trees which would 
otherwise occupy the ground to no ad- 
vantage. It is found that one male 
tree is capable of fertilizing the fruit of 
fully fifty female trees, which is about 
the number planted to the acre. It 
is impossible, however, to determine 
whether the palms are male or female 
until they are three or four years old, 
ami already Mr. Read has dug up over 
a thousand male palms. In his experi- 
ence the proportion of male to female 
trees, grown from seeds, is about sixty 
per cent. 

The process of artificial pollination 




Hon. James P. Read, the Pioneer Date Grower of the Coachella Valley (Colorado Desert ) California 



is very simple. The male trees pollin- 
ate as early as February. The fruit of 
the female trees is contained in lanceolate 
shaped sheathes and as soon as these 
sheathes split open they are ready to 
be pollinated. A sprig of the pollen- 
bearing male plant is placed inside the 
female sheath and tied there, and this 
close contact is found to produce a surer 
result than when the pollination is 
left to the simple process of nature. 

It is now well known that if one will 
go to the trouble of planting seeds and 
carefully watching the growth of the 
plants that spring therefrom that new 
and improved varieties may be dis- 
covered and bred. This is one of the 
secrets of Luther Burbank's marvelous 
achievements, and already in date cul- 
ture, in Mr. Head's orchard, it has given 
to the world the finest and best date 
palm known to the United States. 
The palm is but five years old, yet its 
fruit is already recognized as that of a 
date of exceptionally high standard. 
Its seeds are small, the meat of the fruit 
of more delicious flavor, its color and 
form better than that of any date known 
in American commerce. When it was 
but three and a half years old this palm 



bore ninety pounds of fruit. The fol- 
lowing year it bore nothing, having 
doubtless exhausted itself the year be- 
fore, but this year (1912 ) there is every 
indication that it will yield from three 
to four hundred pounds of fruit. The 
palm now stands 18 feet high and is 
about four feet in diameter at the base. 

When the fact of the development 
of this remarkable date from seed is 
better known there can be but little 
question that a great impetus will be 
given to the planting of dates in the 
desert regions of Southern California. 
Experience has demonstrated that the 
soil and climate are all that can be 
desired and while last year the tempera- 
ture on Mr. Read's ranch at Thermal 
fell to as low as sixteen degrees, Fahr., 
his date palms and fruit were uninjured. 

This is what Mr. Read said personally 
about this experience: 

"The first week in January, 1912, we 
had the most severe frost I have ever 
experienced or have been able to learn 
about on the desert. Every morning 
for about an hour for a week the tem- 
perature went down to sixteen. There 
never was such a severe frost on the desert. 
It killed all the young limbs of my fig 



6 



and orange trees, but on the dates, it 
merely scorched the outer tips of the 
leaves without doing the slightest in- 
jury to either trunk or fruit." 

The Arabs have a proverb that the 
date palm must have its feet in water 
and its head in the sun, consequently 
an essential condition to perfect growth 
is an abundance of water. Where this 
has been supplied in the Coachella and 
Imperial Valleys excellent dates have 
been the result, and there is every reason 
to assume that before many years have 
elapsed the Colorado Desert will be 
producing all the dates that the commerce 
of the United States calls for. It should 
be borne in mind, however, that the 
dates brought into the United States are 
of the poorest quality. None of the 
better classes ever reach this country, 
as they are all purchased by the French, 
English and Turks who control the ori- 
ental date orchards, and the supply 
being limited, they are never placed 
upon the general market. Even under 
these conditions the date growers re- 
ceive twenty cents per pound on the 
trees for all the superior quality of dates 
they are able to grow. 

Mr. Read's experience in the plant- 
ing of dates will undoubtedly be of ser- 
vice to those who contemplate engaging 
in this branch of horticulture. He 
plants sixty-five palms to the acre, 
though he has found that the sugges- 
tion of the Government of fifty palms 
to the acre is more successful to grow 
an orchard from the seed. The rows 
should be six feet apart and the palms 
twelve feet apart in each row. Plant 
the seeds out at the very start instead 
of in a nursery. They thrive better 
when apart and while the unnecessary 
male trees have to be dug out as soon as 
they prove themselves, it is better to 
do this than plant all the seeds in a 
nursery and lose a full year's growth of 
the bearing trees by transplanting. The 
seeds should be planted three inches 
deep. A good plan to secure eveness 
of depth is to tie a string three inches 
up on an old broomstick and use that 
for planting. 

In preparing the soil for the planting 
of dates, it is well to fertilize it, and this 
fertilization should be renewed every 
year. The trees themselves need nitro- 



gen and this is supplied by ordinary 
stable manure. When they begin to 
bear fruit, phosphates are required and 
this can lie purchased in the chemical 
or bone mixtures. In Los Angeles, 
phosphate manure is supplied at about 
$20 per ton. In speaking further about 
fertilizers Mr. Read said: "Very few 
people are acquainted with the value of 
the mesquite of the desert as a producer 
of fertilizer for the soil. There are two 
kinds of mesquite, one grows an ordinary 
fiat bean and the other the screw bean. 
I have found the screw bean the most 
valuable. Not only is it serviceable 
for this purpose, but also as a windbrake. 
I have planted quite a number of the 
trees in rows within five or six feet of 
each other and within three years they 
have grown to be fifteen feet high, with 
a dense foliage that reaches to the ground, 
thereby affording adequate protection 
from the desert winds." 

In addition to fertilization dates re- 
quire plenty of irrigation. 

They should be irrigated whenever 
they need it. It doesn't take any one 
very long to learn when palms need 
water. Cultivation should always fol- 
low irrigation and it is a safe plan for 
a beginner to irrigate not less than 
every month. 

While trees begin to bear, as shown 
in the case of the typical date to which 
I have referred, as early as three and one 
half years after planting, a palm is not 
considered mature until it is ten years 
old. If it is properly cared for it will 
improve all the time both in the quality 
and quantity of its fruit. After this 
time the older it gets the better the fruit 
should become, and the larger the quan- 
tity. In their native habitat trees that 
are one hundred years old are as strong 
and sturdy as trees of a decade and seem 
good for hundreds of years yet to come. 

At from six to ten years of age a thrifty 
tree should bear not less than one 
hundred pounds of dates. Some trees 
will bear double that before they are 
ten years old, and when it is considered 
that our poorest dates are far superior 
to the best that can be bought in the 
ordinary American markets, it can be 
seen that the prices always ought to be 
fairly good. Then, too, there is a vast 
difference between dates "jammed" to- 




A Bunch of Dates Grown on I hi* Colorado Desert, California. 




In Palm Canyon 



9 



gether in the rude and dirty fashion in 
which ordinary dates are generally pur- 
chased, and dates that are allowed to 
cure on the trees, from which they are 
carefully removed and packed in small 
cartons like chocolates. People nowa- 
days would far rather pay a good price 
for their foods neatly and heathily 
packed with assured cleanliness. 

While there are many kinds of dates 
they may all lie classified under one of 
the following heads: — 1. Dry; 2. Semi- 
Dry; 3. Soft. The dates with which 
we are familiar are the semi-dry, and 
the very best of this class is the Deglet 
Noor. A good Deglet Noor is not 
only lucious and sweet, but has a nutty 
flavor which is the standard by which 
all dates are judged. But there is all 
the difference in the world between these 
dates when mashed together in the way 
we generally purchase them and when 
allowed to ripen on the trees. 



The Hawaiians grow a dry date but 
they are- practically unknown in the 
United States. There are soft dates 
that some people like very much better 
than the semi-dry Deglet Noor. Among 
these are the Tablet and Menakher. An 
ordinary date of either of these kinds 
will give two good mouthfuls, and they 
are richer, more lucious and delicious 
than any other fruit. The dates of the 
desert generally ripen from September 
to December. 

In speaking to Mr. Read about his 
experiences in date culture, lie quaintly 
remarked: — "While I have learned a 
good deal, I know there is still much 
more to be learned. When I first began 
I used to ask a great many questions 
and paid careful attention to the answers, 
'out experience has taught me that it 
is a foolish and dangerous business ask- 
ing for information from those who don't 
know. 




The World Famed Deglet Noor Dale Palm, grown by James P. Read Coarhella Valley. Colorado Desert, California. 



10 

"To those who have filed upon desert 
land and who within three of four years 
expect to be able to secure water, and 
who desire to plant dates, I am glad to 
give the results of my own experiences 
and would suggest that time can be 
saved by adopting the following proced- 
ure. Get all the good date seeds you 
can. Put them in a gunny sack and 
bury the sack for ten days either in a 
ditch or any other place where there is an 
abundance of water. The seeds will 
thus be softening and when planted 
will sprout quicker. Carefully prepare 
the soil, fertilizing it with well-rotted 
barn manure, then plant the seed, three 
inches deep twelve inches apart in rows 
two feet apart. Should they remain 
there until they are three or four years 
old their roots will appear like a large 
onion. By this time it may be possible 
to detect the sex of a few, or many, of 
the plants and thus the males can be 
eliminated before they are transplanted. 
They practically lose a year's growth 
by being transplanted. Hence, if you 
have the ground, plant your seeds out 
where you expect your palms to grow. 
Fertilize, irrigate and cultivate as has 
been suggested elsewhere and there is 
nothing to prevent your having abundant 
success." 

While figures may be made to tell 
almost any kind of a story, here are a 
few figures which Mr. Read or any other 
experienced date grower will verify. 
Suppose one has fifty palms to the acre, 
and that they are in moderate bearing, 
say one hundred pounds to the tree. 
At twenty cents a pound, that is twenty 
dollars per tree, or $1,000 per acre. 
Cut the price in half, and $500 per acre 
is still a wonderful return, and the price 
of ten cents per pound for rich, delicious 
dates, cured on the tree, packed in neat 
cartons and otherwise prepared for the 
market, is by no means an exaggerated 
figure. 

A few facts in the life of this pioneer 
date grower of California cannot fail 
to be interesting. 

He was born in New Jersey, April 
29, 1835. His parents were Irish who 
emigrated to this country almost im- 
mediately after their marriage. Up to 
his fifteenth year the growing lad was 
sent to school and there gained all the 
school education he was ever to receive, 



for when the Gold Rush of 1849 came, 
he ran away from home, hurried to New 
York, succeeded in getting aboard a 
vessel going to the Isthmus of Panama 
which he crossed, and eventually landed 
in San Francisco. Here he spent two 
or three weeks and then hurried to the 
mines at Potts Bar of the Yuba River. 
Then began a roving life which lasted 
for several years, life itself being his 
stern monitor and experience his teacher. 
Indeed, as he himself says, he has had 
far more schooling since he left school 
than he had while he was there. 

Tired at last of the roving life, he 
learned the carpenter's business in Butte 
Co., and soon had a good business — 
house-building, mill-building and the 
like. Forty-three years ago he built 
a quartz mill in Brown's Valley, Yuba 
County, and there he has occupied every 
position from the lowest to the highest. 
Prospecting for gold, however, has al- 
ways been his chiefest lure, and every 
summer he has gone out into the moun- 
tains seeking for the precious metal. 

Ever since his wife died, twenty years 
ago, he has felt that he has had no home, 
hence, when some friends who had a 
high opinion of his ability asked him to 
come down to the Colorado Desert to 
prospect for oil. he yielded to their per- 
suasions and came. He has a good 
outfit and made a thorough search for 
what his friends hoped to find. He 
entered the desert from San Diego by 
way of Carrizo Creek and struck the 
Coachella Valley just about the time of 
its first boom. In spite of its desert 
appearance, he was attracted to the 
country and seemed instinctively to 
recognize its marvelous horticultural 
possibilities. He settled down, planted 
out his date orchard as before related and 
a short time ago was joined by his son 
who has been a sailor all his life, holding 
positions of trust on the steamers of the 
Hawaiian Company, but who has given 
up his sailor life in order to help his 
father develop this new, fascinating 
and poetic occupation on the desert. 

In addition to grapes, apricots, figs 
and small vegetables, Mr. Read has 
sixteen acres planted in dates, and in 
his date nursery enough palms now ready 
to be transplanted for another forty 
acres, which will all be in place before 
the end of 1912. 



11 



Date Culture on the Colorado 

Desert 



By Ralph D. Cornell 



X~ N JULY, 1912, Mr. Ralph D. Cor- 
nell, formerly of Pomona College 
gssss was engaged by the Chuckawalla 
SSSsI and Palo Verde Irrigation Asso- 
ciation to make a study of date, 
citrus, fig and other fruit growing con- 
ditions in the Indio, Coachella and Im- 
perial Valleys and Yuma region. From 
this report we quote the following on 
date culture . 

"About seven thousand date shouts 
have been imported into the United States 
since the beginning of the date industry. 
Dr. Coit says that all of the requisite 
conditions for the successful growing of 
dates may be found in many places 
thruout the Imperial, Coachella and 
Colorado Valleys, and the country around 
Palo Verde and Blythe, Riverside County. 
The Imperial, Coachella and Colorado 
Valleys are the regions in which date 
culture has proven its worth, and where 
are now to be found bearing orchards and 
thousands of newly planted off-shoots. 
Dates are so far subject to pests, only 
as imported on the young plants and 
subsequently scattered. This infesta- 
tion is in the form of scale of two dis- 
tinct varieties: the Marlatt and Parla- 
toria. A spray has been found that will 
kill these scales, thus eliminating all 
future danger from outside infection 
and making possible its eradication, as 
now extant. Spraying and burning with 
a gasoline torch have proven to be effec- 
tive means of killing scale on old and 
established palms. 

"The date is not particular as to the 
soil in which it "rows, and will thrive in 
considerable alkali. Light and heavy 
soil alike seem to produce dates. While 
the date is a desert palm and requires 
a long period of intense heat for proper 
development and ripening, the roots 
require an abundance of water. Dr. 
Coit says that one miners inch of con- 
tinual flow is sufficient to maintain a 
five acre orchard of bearing dates. 



The off-shoots are set 25 ft. by 30 
ft. apart, or about sixty trees to the 
acre, and begin to bear at the ages of 
from three to five years. Seedlings are 
somewhat uncertain, but off -shoots al- 
ways come true to the parent. A con- 
servative estimate of the bearing capacity 
of a ten year old tree would be 100 pounds. 
Some will bear as high as 400 pounds to 
the tree. A leading Los Angeles grocer 
has placed the average retail price 
for fresh, California dates at from 50 
cts. to 75 cts. a pound. They bring 
from 15 cts. to $1 a pound to the grower. 
Fruit matures, here, from September 
thru December, some varieties ripening 
on the trees, others requiring artificial 
heat. The Deglet Noor is very popular, 
among growers, at present, as it will 
ripen on the tree before the cold weather 
comes, and is of unusual delicacy of 
flavor. 

"A palm reaches its maturity of bear- 
ing capacity at ten years and will con- 
tinue to produce for one hundred. One 
palm sometimes bears as high as twenty 
bunches in a season. Off-shoots are 
produced between the age of three and 
fifteen years, after which no more ap- 
pear. During this period, one palm will 
produce ten or twelve off-shoots, some- 
times more. The importers' price for 
off-shoots is .$8 apiece. Those grown 
locally cannot be had for that. 

"Palm Springs can boast of a few young 
date palms that have come into bearing, 
but has nothing on a commercial scale, 
nor any palms of much age. 

"At Indio, is located one of the Govern- 
ment experimental stations, where date 
culture is being forwarded. On an ad- 
jacent ranch, are four Deglet Noor trees 
that produced 300 pounds last year that 
sold for $1 on the average. Twelve 
imported trees, on the same ranch will 
produce at the age of seven years, about 
750 pounds of fruit, as they are now laden 
with 75 bunches of dates. An offer 



12 



of $25 apiece for off-shoots from these 
Deglet Noor trees was refused, as the 
owner wished to set more plants, and 
considered them worth that much him- 
self. 

"At Mecca is the largest Government 
date garden in the valley. These trees 
are growing on soil containing three- 
tenths of one per cent alkali, and have 
been fertilized regularly each year with 
one yard of manure to the tree ; and have 
received frequent and abundant irri- 
gation, with prompt cultivation after 
each watering. The trees have been 
sprayed for scale. All of the old palms 
are heavily laden with fruit, and in splen- 
did condition. 

"Situated a few miles south west of 
Mecca, is an orchard containing 5000 
date palms. Of these, between 300 
and 400 are of bearing age, running from 
three to five years. The crop on them 
is estimated at 2000 pounds and should 
average 75 cts. a pound. From one 
Deglet Noor tree the owner took 90 
pounds of fruit when it was three years 
old. When four years old no fruit was 
produced. This season, at the age of 
five, the crop is estimated at 250 pounds, 
of which 150 pounds are engaged at 
$1.50 per pound. In addition the palm 
has already produced three off-shoots. 
This grower expects to net from $300 to 
$600 an acre from his dates when they 
have become ten years of age. 

"These trees are growing in soil that 
contains from one to six-tenths per cent 
of alkali and some salt. They are 
fertilized with manure once a year, 
and for trees producing fruit potash, 
phosphates and cotton seed are applied. 
Several other ranches in this vicinity 



nave trees producing excellent fruit. 

"The Imperial Valley is sprinkled 
with date plantings, and has several 
experimental farms where dates, are 
grown. The trees thrive and fruit here 
very readily and are well adapted to 
such climatic conditions. 

"One of the Arizona experimental 
farms is situated at Yuma where seven 
year old dates may be seen in full bear- 
ing. These trees have never been fer- 
tilized. Cultivated crops have been 
grown between the rows, thru which 
the dates have received their only till- 
age. In the spring of 1912 the palms 
were pruned severly and burned with a 
gasoline torch to kill the scale. After 
this harsh treatment one seven year old 
palm that already contained eight off- 
shoots produced ten bunches of fruit. 
Some palms did not bear at all. 

"Fruiting palms of thrift are also to 
be found on the mesa near Yuma. 
These have had little care but the water 
necessary to keep them growing. One 
nine year palm produced, in 1911, 210 
pounds of fruit that sold for 10 cts. 
F. O. B. Yuma. 

"The date industry seems to lie a 
coming tiling for these valleys, while 
the results so far obtained are largely 
problematical, there seems to be no rea- 
son why the future shall not witness 
the growing of dates as a highly commer- 
cial success. The seedlings are uncer- 
tain as to sex, quality of fruit and age 
of bearing, but by proper selection and 
propagation from off shoots standard 
varieties can soon be produced in abun- 
dance. Scale is under control and the 
climatic conditions are proven. Time 
will do the rest. 



Date Growing in California and 

Arizona 

By Paul B. Popenoe, West India Gardens, Altadena. 



it, a 
upon 
there 



WELL ADAPTED is the date 
palm to culture in certain parts 
of the southwest that ever since 
attention was widely called to 
decade ago, it has been looked 
as the most promising industry 
The hopes of that period have 

been changed to certainties, by 



it is admitted to be one of the most 
desirable industries in which ranchers 
can engage. The areas named are not 
large in total extent, but they probably 
exhaust the list of good date regions 
in the United States, if a little strip of 
Texas in the neighborhood of Laredo, 
where the government has recently 




Grown in Arizona. 



the work of many experimenters, so started encouraging experiments, be 

there remains no doubt as to the pos- added. 

sibilities of this culture. For the ^ , „ ., .„ , , , , 

^ , „ T ■ i m i ii i Eventually, it will no doubt be pos- 

( oachella, Imperial, ( huckawalla and ■ . . * 

Palo Verde valleys and certain low- sible to grow certain varieties of dates 

lying parts of Arizona there is no un- in other parts of California. Seacoast 

certainty about the production of dates: varieties can probably be found which 




Imported Offshoot after six years at Indio. 



15 



will succeed in such a climate as San 
Diego, while there are plenty of early- 
maturing sorts that will doubtless fruit 
with fair regularity in parts of the San 
Joaquin valley, the Sacramento valley. 
Death valley and similar locations, warm 
in summer but cold in winter. These 
last-named areas will not be likely to 
affect the market in dates; they will 
grow fresh fruit for home consumption, 
but can hardly produce enough high- 
grade dates to create much of a commerce 
since the best varieties of dates usually 
ripen rather late because they require 
a great amount of total heat to mature 
properly. This, at least, is the case 
with North African varieties; it is pos- 
sible that the early-ripening Persian 
Gulf dates may change the situation 
entirely, but as they have not yet been 
tried in such regions as I have men- 
tioned, one can only speak from con- 
jecture. 

Attention was first called to date 
culture as a possibility for the south- 
west by the fruiting of a number of 
scattered seedlings, notably those 
planted by J. R. Wolfskill near Winters, 
Yolo county, about 1858; a few in the 
neighborhood of Yuma, and still others 
in the Salt River valley in Arizona. 
Some of the seedlings planted in this 
valley bore fruit of excellent quality; 
accordingly it was Arizona rather than 
California that took the lead in scientif- 
ic propagation of the date. 

In 1889 the Department of Agricul- 
ture imported fifty-nine offshoots in 
tubs from Egypt, nine from Algeria 
and six from Maskat. which were planted 
in the Arizona experiment garden at 
Phoenix. Those that survived flour- 
ished, but more were lost by various 
transplantings, anil I believe there are 
now only two of this original importa- 
tion in existence — one in Arizona and 
another, an Egyptian variety, near Indio. 

In 1889 the co-operative date garden 
was established at Tempe, Ariz., by 
the State University and the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture and about 450 
North African offshoots secured for it, 
a few being sent to other points in the 
Southwest. Since then the Department 
of Agriculture has imported more than 
1,000 offshoots from all parts of the 
world, until the Tempe garden has the 



largest collection of varieties to be 
found anywhere something above 230. 

Unfortunately, the soil of this station 
is utterly unsuited to careful investi- 
gations of the varieties, or even the 
production of good dates, being heavily 
alkaline and saturated with drainage 
from irrigation ditches. The Depart- 
ment of Agriculture has established two 
stations in the Coachella Valley, one 
at Mecca on soil which is too sandy to 
produce the best results, and more 
recently a station near Indio, which 
is admirably located and will in time 
certainly become the principal station. 
At present it has not a large collection 
of varieties, but new ones are being 
added by bringing offshoots from the 
other stations as rapidly as possible. 

The success of these government im- 
portations encouraged private growers, 
and several good plantations were start- 
ed, notably those of the California 
Date Company at Heber, Imperial 
county, and Bernard G. Johnson at 
Mecca. Riverside county, California. 
The latter has since been sold to the 
American Date Company. Both of 
these consisted principally of Deglet 
Noor palms from Algeria and are today 
the two oldest and finest private plant- 
ings in the country. Other importa- 
tions followed, so that between 6,000 
and 7,000 offshoots have been brought 
to the United States from Algeria, 
mostly of the Deglet Noor variety. 
Many of these have already yielded 
offshoots for planting, and as the govern- 
ment has been liberal in giving away or 
selling shoots from its palms, there 
are nearly 10,000 palm trees of foreign 
origin in the United States at the present 
time, the larger number being in the 
Coachella Valley. 

Other growers, both in California and 
Arizona, have planted seedlings in large 
quantities, and some of these are al- 
ready in bearing. The total acreage of 
dates in the Southwest at present must 
be several hundred, of which at least 
sixty acres are now in bearing, many 
of them for the first time this year. 

Evidently, this is an industry that 
has passi ,i far beyond the experimental 
stage. The growers of Arizona, indeed, 
have been held back by lack of varieties 
suited to their peculiar climate, but this 



16 



situation is now being remedied. The 
ranchers of Imperial Valley have been 
making so much money out of other 
crops that they have not given much 
time to dates; so the Coachella Valley 
is the principal exponent of the industry 
at the present time; and no one who 
has inspected what has been done there 
can entertain any doubt as to the future 
of date "Towing in the United States. 

Requirements of the Palm. 

The prime requisite for successful 
date culture is intense summer heat. 
Dr. W. T. Swingle of the Bureau of 



palm, and one miner's inch per acre 
is a desirable supply for successful date 
growing, unless one is in a very heavy 
soil that will absorb and hold moisture 
a long time. Warm water is an advan- 
tage; it is by the flow from hot springs 
that the dates of Hasa, most famous 
in the world, are produced. Artesian 
water in most parts of the Southwest 
is sufficiently warm to be satisfactory. 
The question of soils is a little more 
complex. Normally the date succeeds 
best in a sandy loam; yet it is cultivated 
with good results in many places where 
the loam is in a very small amount. On 







^>>v* --.v'^- 



Imported Persian Gulf palms at the II. S. Agricultural Experiment Station, Mecca. 



Plant Industry, has carefully figured 
out the necessary amount (in Bull. No. 
53) but in practice it may be said that 
any of the localities mentioned at the 
beginning of this article: Coachella, 
Imperial, Palo Verde, Chuckawalla Val- 
leys and the lower parts of Arizona 
meet the requirements for heat. The 
great drawback in many localities is 
that, while the midsummer heat may be 
intense, the autumn coolness begins too 
early; but this drawback is partly avoid- 
ed by artificial ripening of the dates. 

The other essential, co-ordinate with 
heat, is water. There are few cultures 
that require as much irrigation as the 



the other hand, some of the best Deglet 
Noors in Algeria are grown in a stiff clay, 
comparable to that of Imperial Valley; 
while the excellent dates of the Tigris 
and Euphrates Rivers flourish in a silt 
that is pure adobe, although the natives 
consider a slight admixture of sand 
preferable. 

In general, the date can be grown in 
any good soil that is not too heavy, 
provided the right varieties be selected 
for the soil. A pure sand is to be 
avoided, however. The soil of the Mecca 
experiment station is one of the worst 
pieces of Coachella Valley, and it is 
only beginning to give fairly good 



17 




Imported Palm fruiting in California, 1912. 



results because five carloads of manure 
have been put in it during the last 
few years. Of course, the date will 
yield results proportionate to the good 
soil and good care it gets, just as other 
fruits will. 

The palm is not at all discouraged by 
the presence of a slight amount of alka- 
linity in the soil. Some years ago it 
was held to succeed better in a salty 
ground than in a clean one. but many 
growers are beginning to doubt this and 
to hold that, while it is remarkably 
tolerant of alkali, it will give the best 
results in the best surroundings. How- 
ever that may be, it is certain that a 
small amount of salt in the ground is no 
hindrance to successful culture, and 
that dates can even be grown after a 
fashion in soil that is too alkaline to 
produce anything else. The station at 
Tempe, for instance, is so salty that 
weeds will not grow in the garden, and 
there is practically nothing, aside from 
the dates, except a few unhappy pome- 
granates. The salt on the surface is 
the thickest, and of course it does the 
least harm here, but the fact that the 
palms will grow at all in such surround- 
ings speaks well for their resistance. 

Anyone who contemplates establish- 
ing dates in an alkaline soil should in- 
vestigate it thoroughly to a depth of 
six or eight feet. If there is a good 



layer of soil which does not contain 
more than one per cent of salt, the date 
roots will spread out in this layer, and 
the palm will thrive even though there 
should be a surface layer, or several 
other layers, that are much more alka- 
line. If there is not a body of soil with 
less than one per cent of alkali, it is 
useless to plant dates and hope for 
good results. Those who intend to 
make commercial plantings can not be 
too strongly advised to select land that 
is as rich and clean as possible, for their 
results will be proportionately better. 
One often hears a rancher say, "I've 
got a piece of ground out there that 
isn't fit for anything else; I guess I'll 
turn it into dates." Such practice is 
not likely to benefit either the landowner 
or the State very much. 

If the soil is alkaline and the water 
supply pure, the latter will help over- 
come the former. On the other hand, if 
the ground is clean, alkali in the water 
will not do any harm. But salty soil 
and bitter water is a combination that 
should be avoided. 

The palm will stand a good deal of 
cold weather in winter, if it is not too 
prolonged. Temperature 17 F. in the 
Coachella Valley last winter injured the 
appearance of some of the palms, but 
apparently had no effect on the follow- 
ing crop. 



18 



Offshoots or Seedlings. 

Having picked out a piece of soil 
suitable for his purposes, the intending 
grower of dates is at once confronted 
with the question whether he shall 
plant offshoots or seeds. The former 
method is in use in all the important 
date-growing countries of the world; 
the latter has been advocated by govern- 
ment officials, particularly for growers 
without capital, and has enlisted some 
violently enthusiastic advocates, so 
that the date-growing world is now 
practically divided into two hostile 
camps. 

A deliberate consideration of the ex- 
perience of other countries, and of pre- 
vious attempts in this one, as well as of 
the biological principles involved, should 
put each method in its proper place and 
remove the grounds for confusion. The 
seedling method may be summed up 
as follows: 

Seedlings are planted thickly in nur- 
sery rows, and will often bloom in the 
third year, when approximately one- 
half will be males, and as they do not 
bear fruit can be removed and destroyed. 
Within two years more the remaining 
females will have borne a little fruit, 
which can be tested, and those that 
seem desirable can be retained, while 
the others, perhaps three-fourths of the 
whole, can be destroyed. The remain- 
ing females will probably be twenty 
per cent of the total number of seeds 
planted; these palms can be transplanted 
to orchard form. Obviously some will 
be much better than others; as the 
plantation grows and all the palms 
produce offshoots, the inferior ones can 
be removed and replaced by offshoots 
from the superior ones. These offshoots 
will of course require five years more 
to come into bearing; so that it will be 
ten to fifteen years before the grower 
has a full acreage of bearing palms; 
but this will have cost him nothing 
except his time, other expenses of cul- 
tivation, and interest on investment. 

The method lias certain advantages 
for men — homesteaders, for instance — 
whose land is abundant and time very 
cheap. Most growers, however, if they 
calculate the value of their time, and 
the use of their land for ten or twelve 
years, will find that they would actually 



have saved money by planting imported 
offshoots in the first place. But worst 
of all, even when the orchard has been 
weeded out until only good palms -are 
left, these will all differ, variation among 
seedlings being just as great in palms 
as in any other fruit. 

On this last point there seems to 
exist considerable misapprehension. The 
fact that seedlings have sometimes 
yielded fruit, fully as good as and in- 
distinguishable from the parent has been 
heralded so much that those not in 
touch with the situation come to think 
this is the rule, rather than the ex- 
ception. If one secures all the data 
in regard to any given planting, he will 
find the situation far otherwise. 

Dr. Swingle, for instance, says in the 
bulletin above mentioned (p. 20),: "The 
seedlings of a single 1 sort of date may 
present the most remarkable variations, 
and usually the parent type is not 
exactly reproduced by any of the off- 
spring. This is clearly shown by the 
experiments of Col. Sam Taylor of 
Winters, Calif., who tried to propagate 
from seed the valuable early ripening 
Wolfskill date growing on his place. 
This was done because this palm had 
ceased to produce offsfioots before its 
value was recognized. Many of these 
seedling dates have fruited, but none 
resembles in the slightest degree the 
parent variety; most of them are much 
later and consequently fail to mature 
at Winters, where the summer heat is 
insufficient to ripen any but the earliest 
sorts." 

The Example of Spain. 

Finally, any one who wishes to see 
how the seedling theory works in prac- 
tice, should visit the date groves of 
Eastern Spain, which have been propa- 
gated by seedlings. It is true that the 
climate there is not favorable to the 
production of high grade fruit; yet the 
influence of seedling propagation can be 
seen at a glance; every tree bearing a 
different variety, so that it is impossible 
to grade the dates, and they are sold 
very much as cull oranges are in Cali- 
fornia. Any one who tries to get into 
commercial date growing by planting 
seedlings will secure similar results; 
even if his seedlings should be of good 



20 



quality, they will be so diversified that 
he c:in not supply a high-priced trade 
which demands well graded dates, each 
box uniform. Such dates, at present, 
can only lie produced by planting off- 
shoots, which will exactly reproduce 
the parent variety and allow one to 
know what he is getting. 

On the other hand, it is to be desired 
that every grower should plant a few 
seedlings where they will not be in his 
way — as a wind-break, for instance — 
and let them grow. In this way lie 
State will in time secure some varieties 
of local origin that may be as fine as 
anything known; and although propa- 
gation from one specimen will be very 
slow, yet it was in this way that all the 
famous foreign varieties were originally 
propagated. We are now taking ad- 
vantage of the centuries of work of the 
Arabs; those who plant seedlings for 
commercial use are going several hun- 
dred years behind the times. 

The Bureau of Plant Industry has set 
out nearly 400,000 seedlings in Arizona, 
with the desire to produce new varieties. 
Work has also been started to breed 
seedling dates, by securing males of 
known pedigree, Deglet Noor, for in- 
stance, and pollenizing Deglet Noor 
females with them. It will take several 
generations to get a male that is fairly 
pure, but when that has been done, 
seedlings can be produced with a much 
better chance of success. 

Basing their decisions on the con- 
siderations above stated, nearly all grow- 
ers with capital who have embarked in 
the date industry, have done so with 
offshoots, and the number is increasing 
each year. At present any large num- 
ber of offshoots can only be secured by 
importation from abroad, since the sup- 
ply produced in the United States is 
only a small fraction of the demand. 
Excellent results have been had with 
importation, when proper care was used, 
so that it is not a risky proceeding. 
The California Date Company, of Heber, 
succeeded in getting ninety-eight per 
cent of its imported offshoots to grow, 
whereas the best growers in Algeria, 
transporting their offshoots only a few 
miles, are satisfied with seventy-five 
per cent. 

Needless to say, the female palm 



produces only female offshoots, and the 
male palm males. Offshoots must be 
two or three years old when taken from 
the tree, and should be from fifteen 
to forty-five pounds in weight. After 
being left in the shade for a day or two 
to dry, they are trimmed up, only a 
a foot or two of the leaf stems being 
left, and the roots wrapped in moist 
moss or palm fibre. It is desirable to 
seal the cut ends of the stems with 
asphaltum, and if a long journey is 
contemplated, to coat the stump, where 
it was severed from the tree, with the 
same material. In transit, there is 
more danger in bringing the offshoots 
too wet than too dry — in fact, fair 
results have been had under favorable 
conditions with shipments in which no 
moisture is used. Bernard (1. Johnson 
of Mecca has tried putting the palms 
in an iced car, at least for the latter 
part of the journey, and considers that 
this gives good results. 

At present the County Horticultural 
Inspectors of California require that 
offshoots be kept in nursery rows for 
the first year, in order that scale may 
be eradicated. They should be planted 
to the depth of their greatest diameter, 
and it is well to shade them with palm 
leaves or a loose burlap wrapper, which 
will not only protect them from sun 
during the first summer but from frost 
during the following winter. They 
should not be planted until the ground 
is warm; May and June are the best 
months. 

Bad luck has been had with offshoots 
brought from the Tempe garden and 
planted in Coachella Valley, where they 
show a disposition to sour and die. 
Taken from a sodden field, the dry soil 
and air from Coachella Valley is too 
much for them, and fermentation quickly 
sets in. It is worth while to notice 
this as a warning, that offshoots should 
not be transplanted into too dissimilar 
conditions. Such a situation rarely 
ai'ises in practice, however. 

Offshoots Need Care in Rooting. 

When the offshoots are in the ground, 
begins the most critical period of then- 
life. Unless they are kept at the proper 
degree of moisture during their first 
summer, the loss will be heavy. It 



21 



must be remembered that the process 
of rooting an offshoot is similar to that 
of rooting a slip or cutting in the 
open ground. Tiny rootlets are thrown 
out, and these must be nourished into 
vigor; a Few days of drought in the hot 
desert sun may kill these soft roots, 
and the offshoot will then give up the 
struggle for existence. Some heavy los- 
ses have been recorded in the history 
of the industry in California, in most 
cases due to mere carelessness and neg- 
' ligence; but if unremitting care is used. 
there is no reason to apprehend any 
trouble in saving a very large percentage 
of the palms. 

No hard and fast rule can be laid 
down for watering the offshoots, as it 
depends on the nature of the ground. 
Arabs in some parts of the Sahara water 
them every day for the first forty days; 
in heavier soils, every day for the first 
week, then every other day for another 
week, and so on. tapering off. Some- 
times a good plan is to water on two 
successive days and omit the third day, 
keeping this up for several months if 
the soil is sandy, but not putting too 
much water on at any one time. The 
soil must be kept moist, but it must also 
be allowed to dry out a little from time 
to time, in order to admit air, other- 
wise the offshoots will drown. 

Half of the palms should show signs 
of growth lief ore the first winter, and 
the rest will come along in the following- 
spring and fall, it being not unusual for 
an offshoot to remain dormant for a 
year and a half after it is planted. 
When they are well rooted they may 
be transplanted to orchard form, pref- 
erably thirty-three feet apart each way 
or forty to the acre. From then on, 
they require little more than irrigation 
and cultivation with fertilizer once a 
year, and there is little danger of irri- 
gating too much, if the soil is well 
drained. It is a waste of time to plant 
palms in a soil that is not well drained. 

During most of the year they should 
be watered at least once a week, this 
being suspended while they are blos- 
soming, and at the time the fruit is 
ripening. During the summer, when the 
fruit is developing, twice a week would 
be good, or in light soil even oftener. 
In a sandy soil. Arabs some imes give 



water every day: of course, good judg- 
ment should be used. 

Pollinating the Female Palm. 

The only operation which causes any 
trouble is pollination of the female 
blossom, which must be done by hand. 
A sprig of male blossom is shaken over 
each cluster of Mowers, and then tied 
in place there, so that Nature can com- 
plete the distribution of pollen. The 
females in America have shown a ten- 
dency to blossom early, often opening 
up in February, and it is not always 
easy to get male blossoms so early. 
The large number of seedlings recently 
planted will perhaps furnish more early- 
blooming males; in the meantime, those 
who purchase offshoots should see that 
they get three or four males to each 100, 
which are known to bloom at a suitable 
time. The California Date Company 
of Heber lost almost the whole of its 
first crop through inability to get pollen. 

In Arabic countries, a little pollen 
is kept over from year to year, for use 
on female palms which are precocious 
in blossoming. This is a desirable prac- 
tice, as the pollen apparently loses none 
of its power; in fact, a pollenization was 
made this year at Mecca with pollen 
seven years old, and gave good results. 
Experiments have also been made in 
pollinating date palms with the pollen 
of Pheonix canariensis , the commom 
Canary Island date palm which is found 
in gardens all over California, and 
also with male blossoms of the desert 
fan palm, IVashingtonia filifera. In 
both cases good results have been se- 
emed, and growers who find themselves 
unable to get pollen might have recourse 
to one of these expedients; but the 
danger of failing to get it becomes 
slighter each year. 

After pollination, water should be 
witheld for a few weeks, in order to get 
the fruit well set; then the palm takes 
care of itself for some months. The 
first fruit will ripen about the beginning 
of August (this from early Persian Gulf 
varieties i and the harvest will continue, 
as one variety after another comes into 
action, until well into October, when 
the Deglet Noor finally gets its berries 
filled with sugar. 



22 



A Profitable Side Line. 

In addition to the fruit, a very profit- 
able feature of the industry here will 
be the offshoots, which the palm pro- 
duces until it reaches the age of fifteen 
years or more. It cannot, of course, 
bear a heavy crop and carry a full load 
of offshoots at the same time, and as the 
offshoots are so valuable, growers now 
limit the tree to only a few bunches of 
fruit each year, letting it devote most 
of its energy to reproduction by the 
offshoots. 

In this way one might take off two 
offshoots each year, from the fifth to 
the fifteenth or longer, and at the same 



It will probably take a number of years 
to work out these problems, if indeed 
they are capable of solution. 
Yield. 
The yield of a palm in full bearing 
varies widely with the variety, but in 
no case should it be allowed to pro- 
duce more than ten or twelve clusters. 
and for a younger palm, four to eight 
is enough. If it is allowed to retain 
the full number of clusters it sends out, 
often fifteen or twenty, it will probably 
bear nothing the following year. Yields 
as high as 500 or 600 pounds for a single 
palm have been recorded, and it is not 
unusual to find a tree bearing half that 




Imported offshoots being 

time get a profitable crop of fruit. By 
the time the palm has ceased to produce 
offshoots, it would be in the full vigor 
of maturity, and could devote its at- 
tention to producing nothing but fruit. 
Those more interested in selling the 
fruit should remove the offshoots as 
fast as they appear, in order not to take 
the palm's vitality unnecessarily. As 
long as offshoots sell at $8.00 apiece, 
few will care to extirpate them in 
this way. 

Experiments are now under way at 
the Indio station with a view to making 
the palm produce offshoots more abund- 
antly, and of finding methods to propa- 
gate the offshoots when they are very 
small — only a few pounds in weight. 



rooted in nursery rows. 

much in California or Arizona; but in 
such cases it will bear less the next year, 
and if the grower gets 100 pounds to 
the tree, each year, he should lie well 
satisfied; even this will only be with 
good varieties. 

Artificial Ripening. 
The softness of the date naturally 
makes it difficult to handle, and in some 
parts of Arizona, where late summer 
rains are frequent, these have proved 
a great obstacle to date culture because 
they fell on the fruit when it was ripen- 
ing, and caused it to sour. A similar 
objection has always been found at the 
Tempe orchard, where the constantly 
wet ground caused the fruit to ferment 
easily; and it is for this reason that 



23 



growers withold irrigation after the 
dates begin to soften. 

On the other hand, the dryness of 
the Coachella Valley atmosphere is such 
that the late Deglet Noor frequently 
begins to "mummify" just at the time 
it should be filling with syrup, and 
becomes a hard, dry, worthless berry. 
This might be eliminated by giving 
abundant irrigation at that period, so 
the fruit would till with water. 

However, these problems are all much 
more insignificant since the perfection 
of methods of artificial ripening, which 
are America's greatest contribution to 
the date industry so far; it is not too 
much to say that artificial maturation 
alone makes profitable date culture 
possible in the United States. It re- 
moves the element of uncertainty, the 
l'isk which growers of fruits must face. 
and puts the industry in the class of 
dependable things. 

Artificial ripening has been practised 
in many other countries in different 
forms. The Spaniards dip their dates 
in vinegar, which acts on them chem- 
ically; the Mexicans of Lower California 
lay them out in the sun during the day 
and roll them in blankets at night to 
steam. A somewhat similar process is 
applied to the famous Medjool date of 
Tafilalet, Morocco, according to Dr. 
Swingle. The first experiments on the 
subject in this country, were made by 
the University of Arizona, which tried 
a wide range of chemicals all of which 
converted more or less of the tannin, 
and Dr. Vinson finally settled on nitrous 
ether as the best agent; dates exposed 
to the fumes of this for a short time 
became quite edible. K. H. Forbes, 
superintendent of the station, summed 
up the advantages as follows; 

1. The fruit can be harvested cheap- 
ly, by the bunch, before the berries 
begin to drop or are attacked by insects, 
moulds or bacteria. 

2. Danger of loss by untimely rains 
is minimized. 

3. The ravages of worms in the rip- 
ened crop are avoided. 

4. Greater cleanliness of the product 
is possible than with naturally ripened 
dates. 

5. Late varieties, among them the 
Deglet Noor, which do not ripen satis- 



factorily_ here, may be successfully 
brought through. 

6. Early varieties may probably be 
grown and ripened at higher altitudes 
than formerly. 

7. Dates while yet hard may be 
shipped without injury to a distance, 
then ripened artificially, and marketed 
in a fresh and prime condition. 

Development of the Method. 

Previous to his chemical experiments. 
Dr. Vinson had tried moist heat, which 
he later abandoned. Mr. Freeman 
of the same staff took up this feature, 
and carried the experiments along until 
he had secured good results, the only 
drawback being that much of the cane 
sugar was turned into invert sugar by 
the process. 

At this point Mr. Chumard, manager 
of the California Date Compai:ry at 
Heber, began to experiment, and made 
certain changes in the technique which 
allowed him to market one year's crop 
in good condition. Where he left off, 
the Bureau of Plant Industry began 
work, and Professors S. C. Mason and 
Bruce Drummond at the Indio station 
have perfected the method to a point 
where it seems to be entirely satisfactory. 
They have succeeded in avoiding the 
inversion of most of the cane sugar, and 
also cut down the length of time neces- 
sary for exposure in the oven. 

In their work they have used a large 
poultry incubator, since no great degree 
of heat is required. The fruit is picked 
when it is just beginning to color, but is 
still hard, and I understand that it is 
soaked in water for from twenty-four 
to forty-eight hours; then put in the in- 
cubator on a screen with a pan of water 
underneath, and kept there from eighteen 
to twenty-four hours at a temperature 
ranging around 111) F. As they have 
not yet published the results of their 
investigations officially, the exact re- 
sults are still witheld from the public. 

Success depends on absolute control 
of the moisture and heat, so the process 
is one that will always call for some 
judgment, just as baking bread does. 
It is not complicated, however, nor is 
it expensive, and it effects such a mar- 
velous change that I believe that all 
fruit marketed in the future will be pro- 



24 



cessed in this way. It also saves a 
week or ten days in putting the fruit 
on the market, since it would require 
that much longer to mature on the tree. 
The exact technique for each variety 
of dates will have to be worked out, and 
each grower who ripens his own will 
have to experiment for himself until he 
learns the operation. Probably galvan- 
ized iron or zinc ovens will be constructed, 
with moisture pans at the bottom, and 
heat supplied by a lamp just as it is 
for the incubation of eggs. 

The University of Arizona experiment 
station has published the results of its 
work on the crop last year, which was 
a particularly favorable one, and reports: 
"The results of the season's work have 
shown that evenness of maturity is one 
of the most important factors in suc- 
cessful dale culture in most parts of 
Southern Arizona. Varieties that mature 
evenly can lie artificially ripened without 
loss into high quality fruit in the most 
adverse seasons; while varieties that 
mature less evenly such as the Rhars, 
will yield at any given time only about 
seventy-five or eighty per cent of market- 
able fruit, of which a large part is rela- 
tively worthless, due to its lack of sugar 
and flavor." Evidently, the question 
of varieties is all-important, even with 
artificial ripening; without this, date 
culture would be almost hopeless as a 
commercial prospect in the adverse 
conditions of the Salt River Valley. 
But by selecting the proper varieties, 
the report declares that even under the 
most adverse conditions, "from ninety- 
five to 100 per cent ripened into first 
quality fruit of their class" by artificial 
means. 

It was Deglet Noor fruit, grown by 
Fred N. Johnson of Indio and ripened 
artificially at the government experi- 
ment • station, which sold for .$1.00 a 
pound in Los Angeles last fall. Further- 
more, it has been found possible to take 
Deglet Noor berries which had "mum- 
mified" on the tree, and by putting them 
through the incubator, to restore them 
to perfect condition. And the process 
will be even more valuable for the 
softer varieties of dates than it is for 
Deglet Noor, since they are more liable 
to injury if left to ripen on the tree. 
The amount of fruit wasted by the 



Arabs in handling is appalling, and in 
Arizona, in bad seasons, the crop has 
been almost a total loss. These calami- 
ties will be averted by artificial ripen- 
ing, and the certain profits of the in- 
dustry increased to that extent. 

There is no doubt that the best 
quality of dates should be put up in 
fancy one or two-pound boxes for the 
American retail trade, just as confec- 
tionery is put up. In this way alone 
can fancy prices be realized. But the 
great bulk of the trade will still remain 
in the second grade berries, selling in 
bulk at fifteen to twenty-five cents a 
pound, and so far superior to imported 
dates in handling and cleanliness that 
they will hardly be competitors. 

Second Obstacle Removed 

The perfection of a method of artifi- 
cial ripening removed one of the two 
great obstacles to the success of date 
culture in the United States; the other 
was swept aside this spring, in the dis- 
covery of means to exterminate the 
scale insects which, introduced from 
North Africa on offshoots, had threat- 
ened the life of the industry in this 
country. By use of the mealy-bug 
spray based on various phenols, princi- 
pally cresylic acid, the problem has been 
solved and no longer need worry the 
grower or intending grower. 

The Parlatoria scale (Parlatoria blan- 
chardi ) was introduced to the United 
States on the first importation of off- 
shoots, made in 1889. It is a gray or 
brownish insect living on the leaves of 
the palm, and apparently confined to 
that plant alone; it remains nearly 
dormant during the winter, but is 
active throughout the summer. It 
proved very difficult to reach with in- 
secticides, but finally the method of 
burning over the palms with a gasoline 
torch was originated, and many of the 
older orchards in the Southwest were 
so treated last year. This set them 
back for a year, but did not injure them 
permanently, as the palm is extraord- 
inarily resistant to fire. 

The Marlatt scale ( Pboenicococcus 
marlatti ) was possibly introduced at 
the same time, or at any rate on the 
following importation of offshoots from 
Africa. It lives usually at the base 




El Kesba, imported from Tunis, fruiting al the government experiment station, Mecca, California 

September 5, 1912 




Thoory, a valuable dry or bread date from Northern Africa, fruiting al the government experiment station, 

Mecca, California. 



20 



of the leaves, inside the palm where it 
is almost inaccessible, but comes out 

at intervals during the winter to moult. 
The female secretes a white, waxy 
substance, but not a true scale like 
Parlatoria; its life cycle is about forty 
days. When a palm is pulled apart, 
masses of Phoenicococcus may be seen 
at the base of each leaf, sometimes so 
thick as to look like a piece of beefsteak. 
This scale caused particular damage 
by clustering around the young spadix 
before it had emerged from its sheath, 
and sucking the sap nut of it, so the 
cluster appeared withered and I he dales 
which it set were shriveled and unfit 
for use. 

No natural enemy of the Marlatt 
scale is yet known, although ladybirds 
and other insects prey upon the more 
exposed Parlatoria. Experiments made 
in the Coachella Valley this spring- 
shewed that both scales yielded to the 
phenol dip, and all offshoots are now 
immersed in this for two fifteen-minute 
periods, before planting. No ill results 
are visible, and the treatment practically 
exterminates the scale. In some cases 
where the Phoenicocossus was in dense 
masses, a few of the under layer survive, 
but these can easily be reached by a 
spray the following spring. It is, then, 
proper to say that we are now sure of 
being able to keep these two dangerous 
scales in absolute control, and when 
further study of their life history teaches 
us more effectually methods of com- 
batting them, there is every reason to 
suppose that they can be absolutely 
exterminated. 

Types and Varieties of Dates. 

The subject of varieties is just as im- 
portant with the date as with any other 
fruit and it is fortunate that the south- 
western states now contain the largest 
collection of varieties to be found any- 
where in the world, so that we are 
gradually getting full data as to what 
should be planted here. As was to be 
expected, some varieties have not suc- 
ceeded so well here as in their native 
home; some have succeeded better; 
but there are a dozen or more which 
can be confidently recommended for 
planting, and on which the planter runs 
no risk of making a mistake. 

Dates are ordinarily divided into 



three types: soft, semi-dry and dry. 
The finest varieties fall under the first 
class, the second contains a number of 
good ones for every day use, while .the 
third type is unknown to Americans, 
although it is the one preferred by most 
Arabs for a steady diet, since it is not 
so cloying or heating as the softer kinds. 
In North Africa the mountain and oasis 
dwellers usually eat dry dates, while 
the nomadic caravan Arabs prefer a 
very soft date (usually the Ilhars) 
packed tightly into skins in a sort of 
paste. The dry date is usually light in 
color and the flesh sometimes so hard 
that it is eaten with difficulty; it has a 
pleasant nutty flavor, reminding one 
more of a cereal than a date, and the 
fruit has the great advantage that it 
can be kept indefinitely under any kind 
of conditions without deteriorating in 
any way. It can be handled as readily 
as peanuts for shipping or packing. 
Few have yet been planted on a commer- 
cial scale in the United States, but it is to 
be desired that some one start a planta- 
tion of these in order to test the market. 
There seems little reason to doubt that 
a good trade would quickly be developed, 
especially among the rapidly growing 
class of people who use fruit and nuts 
largely as a diet. 

Among the varieties that have been 
introduced to California or Arizona and 
fruited here, the following are best 
known: 

Deglet Noor must be put first, because 
it is the most widely cultivated if for 
no other reason. It is the standard of 
excellence in North Africa, where it is 
the only date served on the tables of 
the rich, as a general rule; and while it 
is perhaps not the finest date grown 
there, yet it is by all odds the best that 
is widely obtainable. Thomas H. Kear- 
ney describes the variety as follows: 
"A soft date, one and one-third to a 
little over two inches long and about 
one-half as wide, ovate oblong in shape, 
generally widest at or near the middle 
and blunt-pointed at the apex, often 
narrowed also at the base, maroon 
colored when ripe, the flesh two to three 
lines thick, translucent, the seed a 
little more than one-half as long as the 
fruit, conspicuously pointed and dark 
chestnut brown color. The stalks and 



27 



branches of the fruit clusters are bright 
yellow (not orange ). the stalks long and 
slender, sharply curved near the base, so 
that the bunches hang down far below 
the crown of foliage. The trunk is 
comparatively slender. The foliage is 
light and delicate looking, and the 
narrow leaves and leaflets are rather 
yellowish green. The spines are slender 
and weak." 

This variety has many advantages. 
Its offshoots are more easily transplanted 
than those of any other; it bears quite 
heavily in this country (although con- 
sidered a shy bearer in Algeria ); and it 
bears evenly every year, if well treated. 
Its root system is rather shallow, how- 
ever. It matures as late as any, usually 
in October. In flavor it is particularly 
mild, having very little of what may be 
called the characteristic date taste, and 
in fact, more resembles confectionery 
than dates. No doubt it will continue 
to be sold on this basis for many years 
to come. 

Menakher, the famous date of Tunisia, 
has gained a good deal of notoriety 
through its romantic history, but its 
performance in the United Stales has 
been something of a disappointment. 
The fruit is improving, however, as the 
trees grow older. It is one of the largest 
dates grown, and the story is that it 
was considered the finest in Tunisia, 
under the despotic reign of the Beys, 
so these rulers used to order the whole 
crop from every one who grew Menak- 
hers, and then forget to pay. After 
this had gone on a good many years, the 
growers decided they would rather raise 
some inferior date from which they 
could derive a little income, so cut 
down their Menakher trees, and the 
variety is practically extinct. The 
Bureau of Plant Industry has two trees 
in this country, however, and their 
offshoots will slowly establish the date 
here. Its size, added to its good quality, 
is certain to make it valuable. 

Rhars, the commonest Algerian varie- 
ty, has been planted to a considerable 
extent in the United States, and the 
fruit, as handled by American methods. 
is certainly much preferable to the 
disgusting mess sold in the Algerian 
markets. Its principal value is easi- 
ness, but as the better Persian Gulf 



dates come into the market, it will lose 
this advantage, and I believe it will 
lose its popularity. It has proved a 
shy bearer in this country, and unless 
very carefully handled is a difficult 
shipper. The offshoots are hardy and 
resistant; the roots go deep down for 
water, and the tree requires less ferti- 
lization and irrigation than choice varie- 
ties like the Deglet Noor. In Algeria 
it tends to bear only every oilier year. 
The Arabs consider it the best date 
grown from the point of view of health- 
fulness, and eat it in immense quanti- 
ties without detriment to their diges- 
tive organs; they even make it into a 
paste with grease and give it to colicky 
infants. They also declare that if 
buried in the ground it can be taken out 
again after six months, in perfect con- 
dition. 

Dr. Swingle has been advocating the 
growth of Khars in the more favored 
spots of the San Joaquin Valley, believing 
that experiment would show good dates 
for local use could be produced there. 
So far as I know, the experiment has not 
yet been made. I believe the best 
Khars grown in California have been 
on the sandy soil of the Mecca ranch 
planted by B. G. Johnson. In the wet 
soil of the Tempe garden, it has proved 
a great failure, the last report of the 
station noting, "unevenness of maturity 
to be as serious a commercial defect 
in the Rhars dates under the conditions 
prevailing in Salt River Valley the past 
season as the poor keeping quality of 
the fruit when ripe." 

Itima is one of the choicest Algerian 
varieties, ranked equal to Deglet Noor 
by some natives, and certainly deserves 
to be placed second to it. The berry 
is large, soft and the color of cafe au lait; 
the offshoot is delicate. 

Thoory is considered by government 
experts to be the best dry date so far 
tried out in the United States. It is 
a rare variety in the oases of the Western 
Zab, Algeria, but eight fine trees are 
now growing at the Indio station, from 
which the variety can be perpetuated. 

Horra, a large, light yellow, dry date 
common to Algeria, has been intro- 
duced in more quantity, and can be 
recommended. 

Tadala and Bent Kebala are varieties 




Rhars, from Algeria, fruiting at the government experiment stalion.'Mecca, California. 



29 



originating in the M'zab oases of Al- 
geria, which arc promising for this 
country, although not planted on a 
commercial scale. 

Many other Algerian varieties have 
been introduced, but most of thorn arc 
still confined to the government ex- 
periment stations. Commercial import- 
ers during the last few years have prac- 
tically limited themselves to the Deglet 
Noor, and the field for this is temporar- 
ily exhausted. Competition of American 
offshoot buyers has also resulted in 
doubling the price for this variety 
during the past few years, so the Al- 
gerian growers have become discon- 
tented, and it is likely that furl her 
exportation of offshoots from that colony 
will lie forbidden. This will cause com- 
mercial growers in the United States 
to turn to the famous dates of the 
Persian Gulf, which have been unde- 
servedly neglected, solely because Al- 
geria was so much more accessible. 

Persian Gulf Varieties. 

Ten years ago David G. Fairchild of 
the Bureau of Plant Industry made a 
visit to the Persian Gulf region, hastily 
studied the principal varieties, and 
brought out offshoots of most of the 
good ones. Some of these did not 
survive, and although other offshoots 
have been obtained from time to time, 
by correspondence, no student of date 
culture has been in the district since 
his trip. Furthermore, the labels on 
many of the Persian Gulf dates brought 
to this country were lost, so that of 
those now at the Mecca station, for 
instance, almost none can be definitely 
named. 

It will thus be understood that these 
dates have been tried out under the 
least favorable circumstances. Never- 
theless, by their quality and still more 
by their early maturity, they are rapidly 
winning a place for themselves, par- 
ticularly in the hearts of the Arizona 
growers, whose climate has led them 
to search for new varieties, while < 'ali- 
fornians were confining their attention 
to the Deglet Noor. Of the Persian 
Gulf dates which have fruited in this 
country, the following are of high merit : 

Kustawi, "A medium to large, oblong, 
soft, sticky date, ripening in August, 



with stone of small size and little or no 
fibre or 'rag.' Skin a light golden 
brown, very delicate in texture and ad- 
hering to the soft golden flesh, which 
is of exquisitely rich, sweet dale flavor." 
-(Fairchild ).' 

Makium, considered one of the two 
best sorts in the Bagdad region, closely 
resembling the Kustawi, but of finer 
quality. 

Halawi. This is the date principally 
sold on the American market, in very 
bad condition, under the trade name 
of "Golden Date." It is the common- 
est variety around Basra, but as grown 
under American conditions it is a fruit 
superior by far to anything Americans 
have previously eaten under that name. 
It prefers an adobe or clay soil. So far 
as I know, the only imported Halawis 
have fruited in Arizona, but Fred X. 
Johnson of Indio has a seedling Halawi 
which happens to reproduce fairly well 
the characteristics of the parent, and 
is highly esteemed. The Halawi ripens 
a little later than the first two men- 
tioned, and is described by Fairchild 
as "a medium-sized, soft date of sticky 
consistency. The stone is medium to 
small; there is little fibre present, and 
the light brown skin of delicate texture 
sticks closely to the flesh, which is 
abundant of a deep brown -color, golden 
toward the stone. It possesses a strong- 
date flavor and is of unusual sweetness. 
It is one of the best packing dates, as 
it keeps well and can be sent all over 
the world." 

Khadrawi is one of the best tried out 
in this country, and is similar in general 
characteristics to the Halawi. It is 
highly prized in Arizona; Fred N. 
Johnson of Indio has an imported palm 
which is believed to be t his. variety, and 
which produces dates of excellent qual- 
ity, although they demand different 
methods of handling than the Deglel 
Noor. 

Fard, the famous date of Maskat and 
the best exported to America, has fruited 
in the United States only as a seedling. 
It is believed, however, that this date 
does even better in this country than 
in its own home, and as it is a variety 
of particular excellence for packing and 
shipping, it is one to be marked as de- 
sirable. Sandy soils would probably 



30 




Preparing Wesl India Gardens' 1912 

suit it best, although the great Semail 
Valley of Oman, where it grows, has never 

1 ii entered by a man scientifically 

interested in the study of dates. 

Moltagi is a little known Persian 
Gulf date enumerated by Director R. H. 
Forbes as one that has done well under 
conditions at Tempe. 

Advantage of Early Varieties. 

It may well be doubted, however, 
whether we have yet secured the varie- 
ties that will eventually prove the most 
desirable. The Deglet Noor itself may 
be relegated to the lower ranks, as 
new countries are laid under contribu- 
tion by the growers of the United States, 
ami it is certain that the early ripening 
Persian Gulf dates will do much to 
minimize the importance of the Deglet 
Noor and other late varieties, since the 
former will be on the market and all 
sold weeks before the latter are ob- 
tainable. The wise grower will, of 
course, plant both early and late varie- 
ties, thus extending his season from 
August 1 to November 1; lie certainly 
will not confine himself solely to late 
varieties, as he has done in the past. 
On this point the twenty-second annual 
report of the Arizona Agricultural Ex- 
periment station says: 

"The study of varieties has been 
found most gratifying in that several 
have been found that will furnish a 



shipment of offshoots in Sahara Desert. 

substantial basis for future successful 
date culture in Arizona. These varie- 
ties respond easily and perfectly to artifi- 
cial methods of ripening and further- 
more mature evenly enough under the 
most adverse Salt River Valley condi- 
tions so that they may be harvested by 
the bunch, and from ninety-five to one 
hundred per cent ripened into first 
quality fruit of their class. In quality 
none of I hern approaches the Deglet 
Noor, but it is believed they will not 
enter into competition with that fruit 
since they will have been harvested and 
consumed weeks before the Deglet Xoor 
crop matures. Moreover, they will find 
an entirely different market, since they 
can be produced at a price that will 
make them food for everyone, rather 
than a delicacy for the wealthy. 

"Among the light colored or so-called 
'golden' dates that meet these condi- 
tions very perfectly, have been found 
the Khadrawi, the Kustawi, the Maktum 
and the Moltagi. The Khadrawi, in 
particular, is a most excellent variety, 
and handles well in the orchard; the 
Kustawi is a close second, although 
somewhat inferior in size. Several large 
varieties of dark colored dates have 
also proved very satisfactory under the 
unfavorable climatic conditions of the 
past year. These were the Nazi e 
Pacha, the Birket el Haggi, and th 
Hayani. Although rather coarse in tex 



31 



lire, their great size and general appear- 
ance secure a ready market for them. 
There seems to be no reasonable doubt 
that the culture of any of these varieties 
will prove commercially successful under 
the conditions prevailing in the more 
favorable localities for date growing in 
Southern Arizona." 

These choice, early Persian Gulf dates 
are to be imported on a large scale next 
spring, and with them it is hoped to 
bring a large number of offshoots of 
the most famous date in the world, the 
Khalasa of Hasa. This superlative va- 
riety was secured by Mr. Fairchild, but 
did not survive. The district around 
Hofhoof, where it grows, contains 2,000,- 
000 palms, according to the Turkish 
census of 1871, and there seems to be 
no reason why this should not be se- 
cured on a large scale. If it can be es- 
tablished in California in that way, it 
is likely at once to assume the place 
(if chief dessert date, supplying the 
fancy box-trade that has already proved 
so profitable. 

Most Famous Date in the World. 

The explorer, W. G. Palgrave, in his 
"Narrative of a Year's Journey in < !en- 
tral and Eastern Arabia," written in 
1863, says: 

"Almost the whole space between 
Hofhoof and Mebarraz, a distance of 
about three miles, is filled up with 
gardens, plantations and rushing streams 
of water. Here for many leagues around 
grow the dates entitled 'Khalas' — a 
word of which the literal and not in- 
appropriate English translation is 
'quintessence,' a species peculiar to 
Hasa and facile princeps of its kind. 
The fruit itself is rather smaller than 
the Kaseem date, of a rich amber color, 
verging on ruddiness and semi-trans- 
parent. It would be absurd to attempt 
by description to give any idea of its 
taste; but I beg my Indian readers at 
least to believe that a 'Massigaum' 
mango is not more superior to a 'Jung- 
lee' than is the Khalas fruit to thai 
current in Syrian and Egyptian marts. 
In a word, it is the perfection of the 
date. The tree that bears it may by 
a moderately practised eye be recog- 
nized by its stem, slenderer than that 
of the ordinary palm, its less tufted 



foliage, and its smoother bark. Another 
species,- also limited to this province, is 
the Rekab; it would hold the first rank 
anywhere else. During my stay in 
Arabia I counted a dozen different 
kinds of dates, each perfectly distinct 
from the other; and I have no doubt 
that a longer acquaintance might have 
enabled me to reckon a dozen more. 
As to the Khalas in particular, its cul- 
tivation is an important item among 
the rural occupations of Hasa; its 
harvest an abundant source of wealth; 
and its exportation, which reaches from 
Mosoul on the Northwest to Bombay 
on the Southeast, nay, I believe, to the 
African coast of Zanzibar, forms a 
large branch of the local commerce." 

Mr. Fairchild describes it as follows, 
in his Bulletin on Persian Gulf dates: 

"Khalasa (or Khalasi). A medium- 
sized, ovate, sticky date with small 
stone and no fibre, ripening as early as 
August in the region of Hasa. The 
skin is a golden brown and of the most 
delicate texture, covering closely the 
rich, golden flesh, which is of exquisite 
date flavor and with the consistency 
of a chocolate caramel. Said to be a 
delicate packer and never exported ex- 
cept in the form of presents. It has 
the renown all over the Persian Gulf 
of being the most delicate date in the 
world. Of its productiveness or hardi- 
ness, little is known, but it is probable 
that a sandy soil will suit it better than 
an adobe soil, as it comes from the 
sandy region of Hasa, which is fed by 
underground water-courses. This varie- 
ty probably requires surface irrigation 
also." 

With this must be mentioned the 
Tafilalet date known as "Medjoul," 
certainly one of the best dates grown. 
The oases of Tafilalet are in the Saharan 
part of Morocco, where they can at 
present hardly be reached by a foreigner, 
and but little is known of the date 
except that it is largely exported to 
England and Spain by the Moors. 
Many seeds have been planted in the 
United States during the past year, 
since Dr. Swingle heralded it as one of 
the coming leaders in date culture; and 
a Coachella Valley company claims to 
have secured a few offshoots of it from 
the oasis of Colomb-Bechar, in Algeria. 



32 



last winter. Dr. Swingle is attempting 
this winter to secure authentic offshoots 
from Morocco, ;md to secure more data 
relative to the method of artificial 
maturation practised, which gives the 
flesh the consistency of a chocolate 
caramel, and renders it so dry that it 
can he shipped anywhere. 

The date is larger than most of those 
so far introduced to the United States, 
dark in color and characterized by a 
wrinkled skin. Unfortunately, there is 
little prospect of getting offshoots on a 
commercial scale for several years, be- 
cause of the unsettled state of political 
affairs in Morocco, and even then the 
government may decide to prohibit the 
exportation. 

There are a dozen or more other 
varieties of superlative dates in the 
world, which have not yet been secured 
for the United States, and any of these 
may turn out to be equal to our best. 
The industry will not wait for them, 
however, although the Bureau of Plant 
Industry is showing a commendable 
zeal in securing them; but with the Per- 
sian Gulf dates to be secured this winter, 
and the North African varieties already 
here, there is range enough to suit the 
most fastidious grower. 

No Danger of Mistake. 

The question is often asked, "How 
can one be sure, in Inlying offshoots, 
that they will be true to name — that 
he will not be deceived by the seller?" 
If lie is buying only one or two offshoots, 
lie must depend on the honesty of the 
seller, unless he is as expert as the 
Arabs, who can tell most of the varieties 
merely by a glance, under any con- 
ditions. 

In buying offshoots on a large scale, 
for importation, the problem does not 
present itself to any marked degree. 
Each variety is characterized by certain 
differences in color, in foliage, in the 
arrangement of the spines, and par- 
ticularly in the arrangement of the 
fibres, which are present just as much 
in the offshoot as in the parent tree, 
and serve as reliable and invariable 
guides to the identity. Consequently, 
if one is buying a large number of any 
variety, and an odd one is put in the 
pile, it sticks out like a sore thumb 




Seven-year-old Khadrawi, imported from the Persian 
Gulf, at Indio. 

in the midst of so much uniformity — 
even the novice could detect it. The 
only way in which one could be de- 
ceived would be that the whole lot he 
bought was one variety, but not the 
one he wanted; and this is unthinkable 
since, even if most of the many sellers 
with whom he must deal were scoundrels 
and anxious to cheat, there would al- 
ways be a few honest ones; and if one 
man out of twenty sold what he prom- 
ised, the difference in the appearance of 
his offshoots would at once lead to an 
inquiry that would result in exposing 
the whole deal. 

In practice, the American buyer al- 
ways employs an experienced Arab, a 
man of standing in the community, who 
has a reputation to sustain, and who 
can be thoroughly trusted. This man 
can tell by a glance at each offshoot, 
whether it is true to name or not, and 
when the whole shipment is brought 
together, a far less practised eye can 
check up the list. Su there is practi- 
cally no chance for mistakes when off- 
shoots are bought in this manner. 



33 



During the first importation of off- 
shoots, when they were sent in by 
natives without any supervision, to 
persons who had in some eases never 
seen an offshoot before, there was occa- 
sional deception. The shipment of 1889 
proved to contain a number of males, 
labeled as females of choice Egyptian 
varieties; and even as late as the govern- 
ment importation of 1904-5, which 
brought the Menakher to this country, 
several of the offshoots under that 
name were males. Growers have now 
had enough experience to recognize 
the male offshoot without error; but 
even without this slight experience, if 
those first importations had been super- 
vised as all commercial importations 
now are, there would have been no 
room for fraud. In the Menakher case 
offshoots were altogether refused for 
a long time, but finally Mr. Kearney's 
importunities prevailed and he was 
furnished a few. Someone may have 
thought to curry favor by seemingly 
increasing the number through the ad- 
dition of a miscellaneous lot of offshoots 
under the name of Menakher; but such 
a mistake could not happen now. 
Profits of Date Growing. 

Finally, a few words on that delicate 
and interesting question, the profits 
of the date industry. 

Although there will always lie a high- 
priced trade in fancy box dates, such 
as the Deglet Noor or Khalasa, not 
much of the total output can be ex- 
pected to sell for any length of time at 
SI. 00 a pound, as it did in Los Angeles 
last fall. It is reasonable to suppose, 
however, that for this confectionery 
trade, prices will not fall below fifty 
cents a pound for some years. Then 
there will be the larger trade in strictly 
first-class dates, preferably in small 
boxes, but possibly in bulk, at all seasons 
of the year; the most profitable part 
of this will he the early sales of Persian 
Gulf dates during the months of August 
and September. These clean and at- 
tractive home-grown dates ought to 
bring not less than twenty to thirty cents 
a pound, for many years to come. Finally 
there will be the inferior dates, the im- 
perfect ones and the inferior varieties, 
sold in bulk as the imported dates are 
now dispensed, but cleaner and more 
attractive; these can profitably lie sold 



at prices that will meet the competition 
of the imported dates, or cut below 
them — ten or fifteen cents a pound. 
It will be many years before the pro- 
duction in the United States can become 
sufficiently large to lower these prices. 

Furthermore, the consumption is cer- 
tain to increase as the production in- 
creases. At present the United States 
consumes a ridiculously small amount- 
only 22,000,000 pounds a year, or some- 
thing like a pound per family per year, 
whereas in Arabic countries a family 
often consumes ten or fifteen pounds 
per day. Many residents of the United 
States have never tasted clean, fresh 
dates, and when they find they can buy 
them at reasonable prices, the demand 
is certain to jump. The present con- 
sumption could be multiplied by ten, 
twenty or thirty and still be small 
compared with that of fruits that are 
less nutritious. 

If one allows seventy-five pounds per 
tree, which is below the mark, and 
forty trees to the acre, he can cut off 
as much of the proceeds for the middle- 
man and retailer as he likes, and still 
have a profit that will suit the most 
fastidious. Let him add to this the 
profit on 40 or 50 offshoots per acre, 
at even $4.00 apiece — half the present 
price — and he will make the proposition 
still more attractive. Best of all, the 
element of uncertainty and risk has 
almost been removed through the per- 
fection of the methods of artificial 
ripening. As the date will keep in- 
definitely, and does not require to be 
marketed on the spot like oranges and 
most other fruits, the grower can always 
avoid a glutted market, if there ever 
should be one, and hold his fruit for 
better prices, just as wheat growers do. 

The situation looks rosy, and is look- 
ing rosier each year, as new plantations 
come into bearing and again demon- 
strate the possibilities. I do not see 
how a careful, intelligent rancher with 
a plantation of choice imported varie- 
ties, who gives the matter his personal 
attention, can make less than $500.00 
per acre; and I believe those who enter 
the industry now, getting advantage 
of the high prices for fruit anil offshoots 
during the first few years, will not fail 
to clean up several times that sum 
annually. 



Are You Interested 

in Date Culture? 






If so I have a good proposition to offer 
you. 

DATES are the coming profitable crop 
of California fruits. 

The area where they can grow is limit- 
ed. The market for their sale is practically 
unlimited, and the demand constantly in- 
creasing. 

Somebody is going to make a lot of 
money during the next few years out of dates. 

WHY NOT SECURE YOUR SHARE? 



To those of limited means who wish to secure a 
home and an income, one acre to five acres of dates 
is the ideal investment, write for particulars to, 
George Wharton James, 

The Date Colony, 

Thermal, Calif. 



»>>>>>>>»>>>>>>>>>>>>> » >>>>) >>>>»>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ■ > -; 



DATE GROWING 



The date Industry is adapted to the Coachella Valley, the 

Imperial Valley, the Colorado River Country and some parts of 

Arizona. In these regions the date thrives as well as in Asia 

r Africa, and is far more profitable. 

As Importers of Subtropical Plants and Trees we are prepared 

to make importations of strong, healthy off-shoots from palms 




- * 

J A or Africa, and is far more profitable. * 

' ; of the choicest varieties growing in any country. 

Our importation from the countries surrounding the Persian 



Gulf, the world's greatest date region, and from North Africa, 
% will enable us to deliver about April or May, 1913, some ex- 

ceptionally valuable stock. 

Correspondence is solicited from those interested in Date 
Growing, whether they desire to secure a few imported off-shoots 
for the home garden, or a larger number for commercial planting. 

Our illustrated Pamphlet on Date Growing will be mailed free 
upon request. 

We are prepared to demonstrate to anyone the carelul char- 
acter of our work. 

WEST INDIA GARDENS 

F. 0. POPENOE, President and Manager 
T. U. BARBER. Secretary and Treasurer 

Importers and Growers of | 

SUBTROPICAL PLANTS AND TREES 

Marengo Avenue and Calaveras St. 
Altadena, California 

Telephone Fair Oaks 1577 Pasadena Exchange 

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A 

I BEST DAT E LANDS IN THE WORLD ;: 



- 1 



SOLD ON TEN YEARS TIME 
ONE TENTH CASH 



Souhern Pacific Lands 

^ IN THE 

Coachella Valley 

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA 



20, 40 and 80 Acre Tracts 



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M 

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, i SAN FRANCISCO Los Angeles ' ' 

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B. A. McALLASTER 

LAND COMMISSIONER 

FLOOD BUILDING 



G. E. WANTLAND 

Genera! Sales Agent 
410 Grosse Bldg. 



HO FOR THE WEST! 

AND LEARN ALL ABOUT IT. ALL ABOUT 



* 
* 



ITS 
ITS 



HISTORY, LITERATURE, ART * 

BEAUTY, GRANDEUR. MYSTERY * 

INDUSTRIES, COMMERCE, WEALTH. * 

# 

* 

DEVELOPMENT— Past, Present, Future: $ 

RESOURCES and OPPORTUNITIES. 5 



OUT WEST 



is the mirror which reflects 
the life of " THE WEST " 

* 



! $1.50 



I 



CHECK OR MONEY olf I >EK— WITH YOUR ADDRESS, MAILED TO 
TS WILL BRING "OUT WEST" TO YOU MONTHLY, 12 TIMES 



READ OUT WEST 

218 NEW HIGH STREET, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA. 

* 

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